Cartoons...

I've been slacking on my cartooning. Out of the habit, I guess. I've been trying to bring it back for October, but I'm about 15 days behind, so I'll try again to make it for November. I really want to make cartoon characters of the people in my life so I can draw them without too much effort, you know? These are last night's attempts.

I don't think they're cartoonish enough. I don't want them to look like Petit Dolls, I want them to LOOK like cartoons. Maybe I need to try Manga-style again? I think I might make this my November goal - instead of cartooning every day, developing characters for my peeps. 

The New Me

"Mommy, this is the new you!"

No, that's not a necklace, it's my bellybutton :)

I hate it but I don't....

Something has been nibbling my pumpkins!!

Caught in the act!

I wanna be annoyed that he and his friend are out there munching on my pumpkins, but we're helping then to stay alive during hibernation, right? Plus, look how cute he is...

Slice of Heaven

It's really a Pizza Party kit, bur I just love the colors! That's mostly how I am with digital kits. I LOVE kits with great papers. This is another awesome bundle from Kat's Creations.

Fluid Acrylics by Goog!

I know we all love our Golden fluid acrylics, but you know what? I'm cheap and I'm poor. I have four bottles of Goldens and a countless number of cheap craft paints because that's what I can afford. Until today. 

Today I went to Blick's and got the cheapest acrylics I could find. They were $3.41 each and are 4 ounces. I got quin magenta, a "titan buff" looking color, and three colors I thought would make good face colors.

And I got this:

And I made these:

I just tested the quin magenta in my CTJ and it works exactly like my Golden one except one thing - it's not as shiny BECAUSE my Glazing liquid is satin finish. You can get a glossy one and it will look exactly like a fluid acrylic. I'm fucking STOKED! I LOVE these!

Jacket Weather

That's the name of this scrapbooking kit by Kat's Creations. Isn't that adorable? I also used her Scrapping Made Easy: Volume 6 templates. Fun and funky kit! 

Scared...

So, I do some art. As you all know. And I do some digital scrapbooking - again, you know this. I sometimes combine the two. I take hi-res pics of my journal pages before they're complete and then use them in photoshop as digital journaling pages. So for a few months now, the store owner at Ahhh Scrap (my first digiscrapping home!) has been asking me if I'd like to create digital art journaling stuff for the store. Of course, I like the IDEA of that. Being a designer, making something that people like, it sounds REALLY fun. However...I'm hesitant for the same reason I don't try to sell art work. Having all your friends tell you it's awesome and wonderful is one thing. Putting it out there for the general public to see and perhaps want but most likely NOT want - that's different. It's like saying "My work only have value if you not only LIKE it, but if you choose to PAY FOR IT." And then the little critic starts. Who the hell am I to think my digital stuff is good enough for someone to want?

ALL of that being said - I committed. I said I would make a mini digital journaling kit for Digital Scrapbooking Day (November 5). We (I hesitate to say "we" because I'm not really part of the design team...or am I?) have a color palette, everyone is to choose a color and make a mini kit. That means 3-5 papers and 5-7 embellishments. Mine is four papers and 6 embellishments - I like to be average. I'm excited about this kit. I LOVE it. It's really, really awesome. All of the embellishments are digital forms of things I've drawn or painted, the colors are great. It rocks. But what if I put it out there and no one ELSE thinks it rocks? What if it's only amazing in my head? Don't get me wrong - I don't think that someone not liking my work makes it LESS amazing...right now. You could hate all my work (why would you follow my blog if you did??) and it doesn't make it less valuable to me. But once it has a price tag on it, is that different? If I'm making things to sell them and no one wants to buy them, does it devalue them? I know I'm overthinking it - it's a free mini kit and most people who journal do NOT do so digitally. But this is how my brain works and my blog is a lot like a digital journal for me.

Here is a page I made with one of the papers and the alpha from the kit:

I'm calling it "Silhouettes and Shadows" or "Shadows and Silhouettes", I'm not sure which one. I've given the kit to two people, and it will be checked by someone who specializes in Quality Control. I'm terrified of failure AND of success. What the F is wrong with me?? Maybe I should journal about that!

Science class notes...

I got a little alcohol ink on my book...

I drew Drew in the dark :)

You Suck Monday (on Thursday)

Just in case you're not following along there, we switched YSM to Thursday nights so I can be there. So, this week's topic for YSM was COLLAGE. I'm super, super, extra horrible at collage. Can't help it. I just stink at it. So what did I collage for you? Inchies. They're pretty hard to screw up because they're tiny.

I did about...what is that, 16? I cut them first, then sort of smooshed them together and used a plastic doily to spray over in two colors, and then just collaged my buddy's pics on top. I'm either going to write or cut out words for them, I think. They're pretty dang cute, I'm actually surprised!

A gift from Toni!

How fun is THIS?? My friend Toni sent them to me!! They're Twinkling H2Os. Aren't the colors AWESOME?

Notes for the Technical Professional

Our teacher for this class told us that she doesn't care how (or if) we take notes. I've never really thought about it before - the only reason I take notes is because it keeps me focused on what the teacher is saying. Otherwise I daydream. I have a very rich inner landscape and my mind will wander off and get lost if I let it. So instead I take notes. But Moira (she pronounces it more-uh, not moy-ruh) explained how SHE doodled her way through college and she doesn't care if we do the same. 

So, there you have it. Four and a half hours of class, there are my notes. And the picture was drawn in the dark, the teachers are always turning off lights so we can look at screens. How the F are you supposed to take notes in the dark??

ATCs!

How many journals does one girl need?

Seven are sitting on my coffeetable right now, there are at least twenty on my bookshelf waiting for my pen, a whole bunch of full ones in my studio, AND there's a stack of signatures waiting to be bound on the floor next to me...too many?

Pac-Man sent me a text!!

I totally swear this was on my phone when I looked at it this morning! Too funny.

NaNoWriMo

Am I the only one who finds things like this? It's totally, 100% my fault - sometimes I scoop out a spoon full and then dip it in the M&Ms bag. This was the next day and I was making a sandwich - totally cracked me up. I'm an idiot! But I used it to make a sandwich. Peanut butter & nutella. Good times.

So, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. You're supposed to write, I think 1700 pages a day, every day for the month of November. I think it's an amazing idea. I often spend hours and hours sitting at my computer writing out the stories in my head. But you know what I think is ridiculous? NaNoJouMo - that's the art journal version of it. I'm a freak about things like this, I know, but National Novel Journal Month DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. NaJouWriMo - fine. But I absolutely HATE that artists who want people to follow their blogs and take classes from them can't even put together the simple English that could turn this into something that makes sense. I lose respect for people when I see things like this.

Wanna see my hand??

Mark Crilley showed me how to draw it! I LOVE it!

Oh, must I?

I hate when people talk about the way something MUST be. "Journaling on a scrapbook page is a MUST." Really? What's going to happen if I don't? What if I have nothing to say? What if looking at the picture is too painful for words and there are tears streaming down my face as I drag it onto the layout? What if I'm laughing to hard to type? Sometimes I journal on my pages. Sometimes not. Some thoughts are private! Scrapbooks are meant to be shared. There are no MUSTS in any kind of art, including scrapbooking. Just like people who will say I'm not a "real" quilter because I don't hand quilt. Guess what, asshole? I have nerve damage in my right arm. I'm left-handed, but you can't sew with just one hand. It takes both. Should I have to tell you that before you consider me a "real" quilter? No. Should I ever have to justify myself to someone else? No. Why do people feel like they get to make these kinds of stupid blanket statements like the world will come to an end if I don't jot down what's going on in this scrapbook page or if I use my wonderful Bernina to make my quilts instead of struggling to make a hand work that doesn't want to?

On that note, here is a random picture:

  

Wanna guess what they are?

A new kit!

These pages were made with Sofie's Mini Kit by One of a Kind Design Studio. I love her work! One of my best friends is a OTS for the Air Force and I've been scrapping the pictures she sends us. When she sees them she'll totally appreciate the pink kit, she LOVES pink!

Suzi Blu kits!!

The amazing Suzi Blu has made this wonderful witch kit!! Your sill come with paints and pencils and instructions - but since Suzi and I are best friends, she sent me the template to play with! How awesome is that?!? OK, here I started two witches - I worked on them simultaneously. A pretty witch and a freaky witch! Now, I know what you're thinking: "Does this crazy chick know how UGLY that green thing is? It looks like a frog!"

   

Putting her onto the canvas board does NOT make her look any less froggy...

  

And yet...somehow they both turn out pretty magical!

  

I really, really loved this. SO cute and simple, I made both of these at the same time. I did let the medium that I used to collage them on to the canvas boards dry overnight; so I did faces and gluing one day and finished them the next. Two finished paintings in two days - tell me they're not adorable! You know you love that froggy little face.

So says Liam

My son says a lot of silly or sweet or just plain funny stuff. I write a lot of it down - in my journals, here, on facebook. But in ten years, where will all of that stuff be? So I'm starting this series of "Liam says" pages. I'm kind of excited about it, I think they're going to be really cute!

These pages are all made with "Beautiful Me" by Sugar Pie Scraps. I really like the colors of this kit.

When September Ends

A cute kit from Un-leashed-ed Scraps:

In Minnesota there are a LOT of things to do in the fall: pick apples, corn and/or hay bale mazes, the Renaissance Festival. In Florida there's nothing. Of course, there WAS no fall in Florida, but still! Couldn't there have been a place to pick oranges or something? MN is fun!

This girl was an accident. Or she was drawn over an accident. However you wanna look at it. I went to Kelly's on the same day she had a very important phone call she'd been waiting for. So I let myself in and peeked out the back door and she was sitting out on the porch on the phone. Miraculously, the dogs didn't bark (they were koutside with her and didn't notice me) so I got some water and sat in the mitchen (so if the dogs looked in they wouldn't see me) and drew a REALLY pretty girl. Just pencil on the plain page but SO pretty. 

This is not her. My thought was I brayer white over her and add some strength to the page with the paint. I should have used a brush because the brayer puts paint on thicker than I would have and it COMPLETELY covered her. Cheap, white craft paint. Usually you can SEE THROUGH that stuff. Not this time. That paint was NOT messing around. So I was skarting with my peeps last night and I made her:

And that:

Oh, well. Sometimes things just don't work out they way you want them to!!

Doodles...

These are those pages that are difficult to spot doodling on and marking up and playing with. Every little doodle makes a difference, it's surprising. These pages were pretty ugly and I already moved on to the next pages but I came back and drew this little face peeking out and look how cute she is with the stars hiding in her hair.

This one has even more subtle things that made a big difference. The pages are mostly blue, obviously. But you see the little blue swirly thing? That's a mask, with alcohol ink sprayed over it. It's super fun and you can't even tell where the alcohol ink and paint merge.

Here's the spread. Not amazing, but just something to do while waiting for Liam to get off the bus. Something to "waste" my time with instead of TV. It makes me happy.